At Your Behest
by Logos Minus Pity
Summary: Jinx is the new biggest threat to the City of Progress, and already she's managed to outsmart Piltover's Finest. In the wake of the incident at the Treasury, Vi is itching for a round two with the menace, and a chance to even the score.


_**(reposting to FFNet from usual haunt over at AO3-in general AO3 is my primary and first-to-update site, so if you're interested in reading more, or my NSFW stories, the link to my AO3 account can be found on my profile page. Thanks and enjoy! All and any feedback is always appreciated)**_

* * *

_"Before the game is afoot, thou still let'st slip" -from_ Henry IV (act 1, scene 3), _by Shakespeare_

* * *

She was a pox on this city.

A curse, a blight, an epidemic of chaos.

Mayhem was her calling card, punctuated with graffitied messages and taunting insults, and damned if it all didn't push Vi's buttons in just all the wrong ways.

Jinx.

What a bloody mess she was turning Piltover into.

And her last encounter with Jinx…

Vi smacked one hand to her pained forehead.

...well, she had been played, to say the least. They'd all been played. And the entire fiasco at the Treasury was one that everyone—Vi most of all—just wanted to forget.

Considering, however, that she was still on unofficial probation from the whole mess, it was pretty hard to just forget and move on.

Another sigh escaped her lips as she spared a longing glance outside.

Here she was, stuck mucking about the office for who knows how long while Jinx was out there, flouncing about Vi's town, breathing destruction on Vi's people, while Vi herself was stuck behind her desk all because the treasury got blown up a few days earlier.

Vi gritted her teeth in frustration at the mere memory, and fought the urge to pound one hextech gauntlet into her desk. Caitlyn would have her head if they had put in yet another order for more office furniture all because Vi couldn't restrain herself.

But man, it was a prime example of just why Vi was never meant to be sitting behind a desk full of paperwork and files.

Vi was a woman of action. Leave the fancy words and writing off to others—Caitlyn made such a damn respectable sheriff for the very reason that she was a woman of both words and action—but Vi was made for the streets. It was where she had been born and raised, and where she was meant to be, even if she had long since traded in to wear the blue police uniform and golden badge.

Still, some things hadn't changed in the slightest, and one of them was the fact that Vi felt utterly useless while roaming the office, particularly when she knew she could be out there actually doing something. Anything. Just not having to dredge through the hours trapped in an office, stuck waiting to hear for news and reports from the actual streets and patrols.

She wanted to complain, but she knew better.

After all, the Sheriff had relegated herself to the exact same position.

Vi turned and looked across the office.

Quite the contrary picture to Vi, Caitlyn had been quietly sitting at her desk just like yesterday, and the day before, and the day before. There were no sighs of exasperation from her, no longing glances toward the window, only the quiet and methodical scratching of her quill pen as she continued to systematically go through the nearly unending pile of paperwork that always seemed to be placed on her sheriff's desk.

How she managed to stay completely focused on such a boring task was beyond, Vi. But then again, that was why Caitlyn was the Sheriff of Piltover, and no one else.

It simultaneously made Vi want to huff and smile as she turned back to study the orange sunset outside.

"Well."

Vi's head snapped up as Caitlyn spoke. The sheriff was leaning back into her chair, stretching her arms out. She fixed Vi with a knowing gaze.

"I think I've accomplished quite enough for today...and considering that I hardly think staying longer will increase your productivity, why don't we go home for supper?"

Caitlyn was dusting off her hat as she spoke, replacing her quill pen, and organizing her already spotless desk in preparation to leave.

Vi tried to look as appropriately guilty as she was supposed to, and then decided to give up on appearances at the look Cait gave her through her dark eyelashes.

"Wooo! Supper time!"

She was all too glad to lead the way out of the building and toward her hextech bike.

"Really, though, Vi," chided Caitlyn. "You make it twice as bad as what it needs to be, what with all of your sighing and looking out the window."

Her shoulders slumped almost comically, and Vi used her oversized metal fingers to push back a swathe of unruly pink hair. "Come on, Cupcake, you know I'm no good at that office stuff, least not like you are. I'm better out on the beat, doing things."

"Like you did the last time with Jinx?" It wasn't a true jab, though, but cooly teasing and amused at the pathetic state of Vi's situation.

"Cait," whined Vi pleadingly, even though she knew it was useless. "Just think of all I could do when I get my hands on her dirty little neck!"

She mimed just what was in her imagination, taking on the very picture of intense, studious concentration as she silently choked a non existent enemy.

To most, Caitlyn was something of an enigma: beautiful and refined, but cool and aloof. Yet Vi knew her as so much more than that, and as she mimicked strangling a particularly scrawny invisible neck with her hands, she caught the glimmer of a smirk tugging at the sheriff's lips.

"That appears to be quite the satisfying prospect," she commented.

Vi took on an expression of bliss, rolling her eyes back. "If only you knew. The stuff of my dreams."

The response to that was one perfectly raised and affronted eyebrow, belied only by the lips that were now tightly pressed together—not in irritation, Vi knew, but in truly repressed mirth.

Just like a proper lady.

"If that is the content of your dreaming than I hardly know what I remain around for."

Vi gave an exaggerated shrug back, raising her gauntlet-covered hands placatingly.

"All I'm saying is, just think about it, Cupcake," she suggested with a wink, hopping onto her hextech motorcycle.

Cait shook her head in response, but she was still smiling when got onto the bike and wrapped her arms firmly around Vi's midriff.

"You're terrible, you know that?"

Vi heard the words whispered into her ear, and she twisted around, sparing one lazy grin as she powered on their techmaturgical transport.

"That's exactly what you love about me."

And wasn't that the truth.

* * *

When they arrived into the office the next morning, Vi was in an unusually good mood. They had only arrived just on time for when the day shift started, rather than the hour or two earlier that Caitlyn typically kept to.

The fact that they had arrived so much later than usual was because Vi had done a rather good job of keeping Cait content and happy both the night before and just this morning. And when the Sheriff was in a good mood...well...Vi was prone to be in a equally good mood as well.

Vi returned from the department kitchenette and carefully placed the steaming cup of tea in front of her partner. It was exactly to Caitlyn's standards. Black—brewed for a generous seven minutes precisely, with only the barest hint of milk but with a generous cube of sugar.

While Vi was hardly a connoisseur of teas—and, really, even with all of the patient tutoring from Caitlyn, she barely cared between full leaf and dustings, black and green—she had long since picked up on what her nearly obsessive partner liked, down to the exact number of times she would stir with a spoon.

And it was not without Cait noticing.

She need never say anything, but even while only a small smile was permitted to grace her pale features, her piercing eyes spoke measures more of gratitude, and knowledge of just how much silent work Vi put into tending the little things between them.

But then, it was so easy to put in that effort when Caitlyn gave the same back.

Vi ducked her head at Cait's murmured thanks, waving it aside with a "no problem, Cupcake" back as she returned to her own desk. Really, it was everyone else who should be thanking her—powers only knew what tea-deprived monster Vi was helping to keep at bay.

The thought tickled her, and she chuckled under her breath even as she sat down heavily, eyes glancing between the stack of papers and the metallic pile her hextech gloves made next to them. The sad truth was that there was only so much tinkering to be done on her babies before she was forced back to paperwork, and with no option for patrol at the moment, it was time at last to bite the bullet.

"Vi...you do know that your work while relegated here in the office is generally considered as being of dismal quality?"

All of her resolution to commit to doing paperwork for the day crumbled apart at that, and Vi let her head fall to the wooden surface of her desk with a loud thump of defeat.

"Cupc—"

"Really, you're almost more of hindrance to all of the work that needs to be accomplished instead of a help." Caitlyn set down her tea, nodded once to herself. "As such, I believe it is best for you to be more actively working out and about on open cases, where your skill set can be better utilized for the good of the citizens of Piltover."

"Are you…" Vi had to dart her tongue out and wet her lips, still not believing what her ears were telling her. "Are you saying I have free rein again?"

Caitlyn's lips pursed together, partially in consternation and partially—Vi knew—in repression of a smile.

"If you could please try to avoid the demolition of any other Piltover landmarks, it will leave significantly less of a headache for everyone involved...but yes." Her brown eyes twinkled for a moment. "You have 'free rein', as you so quaintly put it."

"Aw right!" Vi spared only a moment to pump one bare fist into the air in victory, and in a flash she had picked up her gauntlets, quickly latching and buckling the hextech-enforced steel into a place. The red and blue lights on the cuff of each glove flared into life, and she flexed her reinforced fingers happily.

With some good timing and just a touch of luck, maybe she would actually get to wrap her hands around that skinny throat today.

The thought made her grin widely.

Jinx had it coming to her...and "it" was going to be a classic, Vi-style knuckle sandwich. With her patrol gear firmly attached and in place, Vi quite nearly skipped away from her desk, pausing only to thank Caitlyn again. She really would need to do something special to pay back for this, something beyond merely capturing the city's most wanted criminal.

"Vi."

She stopped, turning around quickly. There was something about Cait's voice, somber and low, that caught her attention and made her still.

Her blue eyes were unusually dark, glittering queerly with reflected light. She cradled the fine porcelain of her tea cup, one finger almost absentmindedly running circles across the delicate rim of the fragile ceramic; yet her gaze remained on Vi, unblinking.

"Be careful," she cautioned at last. "What game Jinx is playing at is beyond a simple criminal affair, and why she is so fixated on taunting you…"

Caitlyn shook her head, and long waves of hair fell free from behind her ear, cascading down in front of her face.

"Just...be careful."

Vi finally responded then. She smiled at Cait, not her usual and full grin, though it held a shadow of the same posture in it. "For you, Cupcake, I can be."

* * *

After Vi had spent the better portion of the morning scrounging Piltover, lunchtime found her moodily stewing in one of her favorite local bakeries, her motorcycle parked outside, and a range of what was certainly not consolation pastries strewn across the table in front of her.

Vi took another reticent bite out of an eclair.

Normally these were sugary bits of delight to be enjoyed, but this time her mind was elsewhere, brooding over the undeniable fact that the past few wasted hours had taught her: when she wasn't running around the city blowing things up and causing general mayhem, Jinx was actually not the easiest person to find.

Vi finished shoving what remained of the pastry into her mouth, chewing angrily before swallowing.

Like hell was she going to spend the rest of the day on a wild goose chase, not when she'd been given leave for open hunting season.

The sky outside was a still a bright and sunny blue, and even as Vi stared out at it, her mind was beginning to move and concoct a plan. If Jinx wasn't out and about, then Vi was just going to have to draw her out.

Ideas now in firmly in mind, Vi gobbled down the last pastry on her plate, and bounded out of the bakery and back toward her bike, eager to begin. It was time to give Jinx a taste of her own medicine, and show that sniveling little punk that Vi could play the game just as well as her.

Vi punched in a signal to her Piltover Patrol hextech comm. device, signalling for one of the robotic patrol units to meet her in the nearby park. By the time the bots began arriving onto the green, Vi was ready and waiting, a long blade of grass sticking out from her between her lips, and a can of red spray paint in hand.

She had the bots lineup, and one by one, she got down to work.

Can't imagine Cait will be none too happy about this, but she did give me free leave, Vi reasoned to herself. Besides, if this pays off...well she can't be upset with me then!

It had been more than a fair few years since Vi had tried her hand at vandalism, but all in all, when she finally stepped back and surveyed her work, she couldn't help but cross her arms and smile.

She chewed on the blade of grass further and she looked over each and every last bot in the unit, all of which started unblinking back at her, hextech machines ready and waiting for further orders. Cait might not be happy with her, but if this didn't succeed in baiting Jinx out, Vi would turn in her badge.

Taking a page from the criminal's own handbook, Vi had spraypainted over the glossy chassis of every last patrol bot, decorating them with a series of taunts and insults directed toward the mayhem maker of Piltover.

"Vi rockz! All hail Queen of the Hill!"

"Less like Jinx and more like lame" wrote another.

Ok, so maybe not Vi's most creative comebacks, but she was particularly proud of the ones that lacked any words at all, and instead were crude caricatures of Jinx's face—one even included Vi stepping on said face.

Vi nodded one last time to herself, pleased.

Now, as Cait would say, it was time to actually spring the baited trap.

It only took a little bit more for Vi to finish re-dialing in programming instructions to the automatons, now ordering them to each fan out over the city, proceeding in random directions until they had covered the whole of Piltover.

The bots' eyes glowed green as the new set of patrol instructions were enacted, and they immediately dispersed, turning around to begin their patrol in a multitude of directions, oblivious to the shocked and bemused faces on the citizens of Piltover that they passed by.

As for Vi...now was the waiting game; it was not a game she was particularly good at, but considering how confident she was in the trap she had designed...well, she would have to content herself with waiting.

It was only when she was at the verge of dozing off that her radar began beeping and flashing.

In the span of the few seconds as Vi looked at where the signals were originating from, another three bots sent out responses indicating that they'd been destroyed. And all from the same area.

Vi was up and on her motorcycle in an instant, already roaring out of the park before she had the presence of mind to start up her lights and siren.

Dark District, huh?

Despite the seemingly ominous name, the Dark District wasn't exactly a dangerous or suspicious part of town. With its location relative to the sun and the base of the upper city, it just happened to be a part of Piltover that always seemed to covered with shadow, only getting a few hours of proper and direct daylight in a given day. Those hours would already be over by now, with evening setting and the buildings casting long shadows across the streets and alleys.

Vi was weaving in between the tall buildings of said district when the rumble of an explosion could suddenly be felt even through the vibrations of her bike, and a corresponding plume of smoke began rising from deep within an alley only a few blocks away.

Not bothering to waste any more time, she gunned down an alley, screeching around corners until she finally came to an open clearing and a sight that her memory would treasure forever.

The bait worked perfectly.

Jinx stood in the middle of the clearing, repeatedly smashing the smoking remains of one of Vi's graffitied bots with her foot, never mind that that this particular bot was already in at least ten separate pieces.

Vi hopped off her motorcycle and folded her arms broadly across her chest, spitting out the one last piece of grass she had hung onto from the park. "So, I take it you liked my present?"

Jinx snarled and kicked the ruined chassis she had been demolishing at Vi. Vi easily caught it with one gauntlet and couldn't help but chuckle as she looked back down at one of her better portraits of the menace of Piltover.

"You...you think your cheap imitations are funny?!" Jinx was shouting now, and practically fuming.

Vi couldn't help herself, not with Jinx so..so obviously pissed off. She knew if Caitlyn was there, she would chide her, but Caitlyn wasn't there.

So Vi stuck out her tongue at Jinx and made a rather crude and obscene gesture, delighting as Jinx fumed and turned a peculiar shade of red from sheer outrage, before returning the gestures in kind.

"I thought you of all people would appreciate, considering how you normally like to get attention...and...well," said Vi, faux-cracking her knuckles. "Since now you're here anyway, time to play, right?"

Then she charged forward, lunging toward the blue-haired little freak.

Jinx was fast though, and she easily darted away. Vi threw a heavy left hook, twisting around, but still just barely skimmed a few hairs on the top of that bright head. They traded back and forth, Vi attacking and Jinx evading. As far as Vi was concerned, though, you couldn't win solely on defense; it was only a matter of time until she got Jinx to slip up.

Plus she still had a trick up her sleeve.

"What what?" exclaimed Jinx, bounding back toward one wall. "You invited all these extra players and didn't even tell me! Cheater, cheater...pumpkin-eater. And by pumpkin I mean bombs."

The rest of the bots that Vi had sent out earlier had began to close in on the alley, now forcing Jinx's attention to divide between both them and Vi, exactly as Vi hoped.

Vi slammed one fist into the pavement, causing it to rupture and quake, and forcing Jinx to leap as the ground failed her footing. Vi lunged forward the, smashing her open palms together with bone-crushing force, and yet again just missing by the barest of hairs.

"Durrr, not fast enough, fat-hands. Maybe if you lost some weight," Jinx taunted, blowing a raspberry as if to add injury to insult.

Then she flipped gracefully backward, landing perfectly balanced atop a trash collection bin. She gave a dramatic bow, like a conductor before an orchestra. When she straightened, a gleaming smile cut across her face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's start the fucking games!"

She pulled up her distinctive shark-shaped rocket launcher, aimed at Vi, and immediately fired.

It was a multi-ballistic shot, though, and while Vi had quickly brought her gloves up in a defensive crouch to absorb the hit, she cursed as soon as she pulled her arms back down. She had come out fine, but the wave of bot reinforcements couldn't say the same.

"Boo hoo," yelled Jinx, taking on the extreme caricature of a sad pout even as she began to run down another alley. "Games aren't any fun when you bring along uninvited friends. We should play somewhere else…"

Vi bared her teeth as the voice drifted away and Jinx quickly vanished around a corner. That little minx had it coming to her.

But as soon as she began her pursuit, Vi froze, abruptly and oddly conflicted for once.

Every single heartbeat, every pulse of blood in her veins was roaring for her to pursue her target, to go now. But she caught her own footstep, suddenly wary of the way her stomach clenched deep within her gut.

Vi knew she had a reputation for recklessness; heck, the whole damn city knew it, and then some.

Contrary to that belief, though, Vi knew better. She liked to say that she knew the value of moving fast, and purely on instinct, something that most of the patrol—always so damn obsessed with thinking things through a million and one times over and following "the plan"—didn't fully appreciate.

At the same time, though, she also valued the few times when instinct yelled at her to pull back and stop for a second. Call it a skill from living on the streets for so long, but when her gut pulled at her like it was now, Vi listened.

So rather than running down the alley, she hit the radio device on the back of one glove, calling in over the police emergency frequency.

"This is Vi. Requesting for patrol backup in the Dark District. I have Jinx in the area and am following in pursuit. Please send backup to—"

The radio device exploded apart.

Vi cursed violently, and looked up toward the end of the alleyway, where she just barely caught the flash of blue as it disappeared yet again around a corner.

But she still hesitated.

If her call hadn't gotten fully through…

"Play time! Play time! Everybody do your share!" The call screeched out, now echoing from above her. Miniature bombs began raining down, leaving Vi with little choice. She tucked one shoulder and ran down the alleyway, teeth now bared angrily as explosions followed in her wake.

She rounded the alley into a new trash clearing, and came face to face with the snot-nosed brat again...and a gatling gun.

"Play time, play time...oh wait...I don't think those were the lyrics," mused Jinx, a frown tugging her lips downward. In an instant it was replaced with broad and delirious smile. "Oh well."

Then she pulled the trigger.

Vi was already moving, first rolling across the ground and then bringing her arms up in a defensive x-form cross. She evaded the gunfire as best as she could, and charged.

Jinx wanted a fight? Well she was about to get it—Vi-style! Up front and close range.

Vi dove.

One hand swung, opened-palmed, toward Jinx, while the other grabbed for the gun. The gatling gun crunched and then crumpled beneath her hextetch reinforced grip, but her other grip returned empty-handed.

She moved without thinking, swinging the battered remains of the gun. There was a yelp, and Jinx tumbled, her ankle caught by the wide swing.

But yet again, before Vi could fully pounce on her, the criminal rolled away, just out of reach and wiping her her stray locks of hair back with a sigh.

"Wow! Talk about close calls!" Then her eyes grew brighter, and her voice adopted a chillingly sing-song lilt as she mockingly waved her empty hands at Vi. "But I think you've got an even closer call to deal with."

Vi immediately looked down at her own hands, and felt cold sweat break out across her skin.

There, skillfully tucked into the small steam vent cravasses on each gauntlet, was a small device that was both blinking and beeping, with a rapidly increasing tempo. And Vi knew without saying that she didn't want to be there when they finished.

She struggled to shake them loose, but then seemed to be like miniature chompers, burrowing further in to her gauntlets.

"Shit!"

Her mechanical hands were too large to reach in and remove them, so she needed to remove her gauntlets and before—

The timed explosion sent her flying backward and into the pavement. Stars exploded beneath her eyelids, and were none too fast in dissipating as groggily came to a few seconds later.

Her hextech gauntlets were a smoking wreck of what they had been bare seconds earlier. Where gleaming and well oiled machinery had clicked and rolled together, only smoking and torn remnants of iron and steel remained behind. Steam hissed out alongside black smoke, and only a few sad gear cogs still half-heartedly twitched and clicked in and attempt to continue functioning.

Vi dumbly noted that she could see the hint of her own pink skin peeking out at her through the gross mess of alloy left behind.

Her thoughts were still slow to form themselves, though, and whether it was from the concussive damage of the explosion or from the effect of seeing her prized gauntlets so damaged beyond repair, she could not yet distinguish.

One thought grew with increasing and frightening urgency in the back of her mind, though: she needed to get up. And fast.

But there was no time.

A scream of childlike delight pierced Vi's ears. Jinx immediately set on Vi before she could even think to recover herself, and with a vicious degree of glee.

Jinx might be tiny, but she was still strong given her frame, and she attacked with a degree of insanity-fueled malice. Vi rolled up defensively, moving to try to clip Jinx's ankles and at least drop her to the ground and even the playing field.

She took two kicks in the process, but landed a solid swipe that sent Jinx tumbling down hard.

Vi moved to reach for Jinx's exposed throat, and then promptly reeled backwards and saw double as something very hard and very metallic struck her on the back of the head. She only blearily recognized Jinx holding one of the twisted metal barrels of the gatling gun as the woman stood back up to tower over her...and to resume her beating.

Over and over Jinx kicked into Vi's unprotected body, around her now feeble attempts to block, until all Vi could do was curl up against, bile burning at the back of her throat, and wonder just how she had lost so badly. She withdrew into herself, trying to place a wall between her thoughts and the tide of pain. The pavement blurred in her vision, flecks of gray and black, and she was just a scrawny and underfed kid again, an orphan getting beaten up by the bigger, stronger, and older bullies.

And still not strong enough to win.

Another boot landed against her side, and she simultaneously heard and felt bone give way with a resounding crack, and white-hot pain flooded her system, sharp and distinct.

But no more kicks followed.

As Vi silently wrestled to bring the pain in her ribs under control, she was abruptly turned over and onto her back, forced to look up into two wide and glittering red eyes.

The gaze that fixed her in place was eerily, manically pleased.

A boot slapped down on either side of Vi's legs, and then Jinx lowered herself down until she was straddling her hips.

Jinx let out a chortle of laughter. "Not so big and strong now, huh, fat hands?"

She pulled out one of her comically oversized guns, aiming it down and at Vi's defenseless face, separated by a mere foot or less.

End of line.

Vi closed her eyes, unwilling to look Jinx in the face when the final blow rang down—because it would be the final blow. Vi was tapped dry. Her hextech gauntlets were wrecked, and she was physically beaten. There was no strength in her left to even bring her arms up in defense. This was it.

Jinx had won.

Vi's entire body jerked painfully when the air boomed with thunder. There had been no lightning, though, and Vi recognized that sound anywhere.

Jinx froze above her, red eyes crossed as she stared at the trail where a bullet had just passed mere inches in front of her nose.

The her eyes quickly uncrossed, and she jerked her head sideways toward the source of the bullet, toward the booted footsteps that heralded the Sheriff of Piltover's arrival.

Vi watched, desperate and nearly hypnotized, as Caitlyn stepped fully out of the shadows, still swathed in the smoky haze from her rifle shot. Her shot, which could have easily been lethal, had been a warning, an unspoken command for the criminal to stand down. Caitlyn always was one to play by the rules, no matter how much the wiser Vi thought the other options could be.

"Jinx." Caitlyn's voice was cool and focused, betraying no hint of anxiety. The only thing her greeting seemed to missing was a cordial and impersonal "good evening".

Piltover's most wanted, in contrast, seemed to flare into life, clearly excited beyond all measure.

"Lady big-hat arrived! Finally come to play?" asked Jinx, her face lighting up in an excited and genuine grin as she clapped her hands. She quite nearly bounced in place atop of Vi, and Vi had to grit down on her molars to keep from showing the subsequent pain in her jostled ribs, lest Jinx notice.

She focused on Caitlyn's face instead, a pale target as the haze of smoke from her gun fully cleared. Cupcake, Vi liked to call her. To Vi, Caitlynwas a cupcake, sweet beneath the manicured and cool exterior, dedicated and loving. And besides, Vi had always been of the not so secret opinion that the woman needed to take herself a bit less seriously at times, so what better way than with a nickname?

But in this moment, her Caitlyn looked nothing like the sweet pastry for which Vi likened her, and every last bit the image of the Sheriff of Piltover.

It was Caitlyn who had first taught Vi to never lower her weapons in front of an armed criminal, to never put away their weapons until that criminal was locked and behind bars. Yet for the first time Vi could ever recall, the Sheriff broke her own rules and lowered her smoking barrel from Jinx.

"Quite the opposite, whatever you may think," responded Caitlyn. Her voice was eerily crisp, at odds with the way her gun now rested almost casually by her side. "I've been playing with you long enough, Jinx...or whatever you call yourself. But I've had enough of your games. I've decided I'm done playing."

Vi caught the quick glance of Caitlyn's eyes toward her before the Sheriff trained them back onto Jinx, and what she saw there made her shiver.

There had been concern for Vi, yes, for her well-being and livelihood, but just below that worry lay a roiling ocean of rage, colder than a dead winter's night, the likes of which Vi had never, ever, seen before. Not from Cait. Not like this.

And though it was surely directed toward the criminal who still perched atop her, Vi still shuddered nonetheless.

Jinx took notice this time, and she raised one thin, teal eyebrow, her grin growing further as she look from Caitlyn to Vi, and then back to Caitlyn.

"Oh, are you jealous of me playing with your little...girlfriend?" Jinx punctuated her taunt with several hard pokes over a finger into what Vi's broken ribs. She managed to stay relatively impassive, but at that last, particularly hard jab, a grunt of pain hissed through her lips.

"Let her go."

Cait's voice was equal parts harsh and cold, bordering on rough, nearly uncontrolled.

Which only made Jinx's eyes dance happily in response, a swirl of crazed victory at having struck a cord in the typically unflappable sheriff. "But we're having so much fun! Hey, you could even join in—"

"I said, let her go!" As she finished speaking, Caitlyn's gun suddenly flipped back up with a smooth ease, unleashing a shot directly toward where Jinx's head had been but a bare second earlier.

The villain had already dove away, only just escaping the headshot, but finally leaving Vi able to at least breathe easier without the added weight upon her crushed ribs.

Not that it made Vi feel tremendously better. Jinx's attention was now fully fixated on Caitlyn, and worst of all, Vi was too enfeebled to even do anything about it.

"Cait…" Vi tried to call out to her partner, but her voice was a pathetic whisper in the midst of the chaos and confusion of their fight, and she couldn't possibly draw enough breath to shout.

This was bad.

Caitlyn was good with her long barreled gun—Vi knew better than anybody just how good the Sheriff of Piltover was with her gun—but this was different. Caitlyn wasn't sniping from a rooftop, from some hidden corner or even from the safety of behind an enforcer to draw out the criminal attacks. This was a close-range fight, exactly what that shining and polished carbine rifle wasn't designed for.

"You can't touch me, hat-lady! You can't catch me! No stopping Jinx unless you can actually catch up to me, you dumb-dumb." Jinx spared the time to make a crude gesture toward the sheriff.

Only Vi caught the slightest of smirks tugging at the corners of Caitlyn's mouth.

"Precisely."

Then Caitlyn fired.

Vi had never even seen Cait switch out bullets, trade in for her special shot she had been working on, and clearly neither had Jinx.

She moved, and had it been a mere bullet, the shot would have missed her. But it wasn't just a bullet.

The weighted drag next exploded out from the cartridge; it didn't matter that Jinx was already moving, those few inches made no difference.

In an instant shrieks began filling the air, high-pitched, angry, and almost animalistic, and Vi sat up straighter, holding her breath in hopeful anticipation, ignoring the sharp daggers in her chest. Had Caitlyn...had she actually…?

Sure enough, the lead weighted net stretched and thrashed, clear indication of the captive it had trapped, even if Vi was still struggling to make out the distinctive braid of electric blue hair.

"Let go of me! Lemme go! You can't hold Jinx! No one can catch me! No one!" Jinx threw her arms out wildly, screaming threats and obscenities, none of which had the least effect on the unruffled Sheriff of Piltover.

Vi felt her stomach clench when Caitlyn approached the new captive, but before she could even think to try and call out, Jinx was moving—but so was Vi.

It was so typical of Jinx, Vi suddenly realized. She was criminal who always liked to have one last trick up her sleeves. But then, Caitlyn had clearly surmised just as much; so when Jinx swung wildly, pulling out a blinking hand grenade from somewhere, Caitlyn was already moving. Her gun barrel struck against the offending explosive with a loud crack, sending the grenade spiralling high into the air.

Caitlyn shot it apart in the sky with all the ease of a seasoned sniper.

Then she calmly resumed her approach toward a now silent Jinx, clearly in shock at how outplayed she was. Vi thought she might be in an equal amount of shock.

Caitlyn reached down and, through the net, began systematically removing and disarming every last device and weapon Jinx had on her with all of the efficiency as if she knew exactly where each weapon of mayhem was concealed.

When she was done, Caitlyn straightened and gave a sharp whistle to signal the other cops and robotic clean up crew to come in. The sheriff wiped her hands, and then re-holstered her rifle onto her back, sparing one last cold and pitiless glance down at the new prisoner.

There was no mercy in Sheriff of Piltover's eyes when looked at her thunderstruck and defeated captive, and there was no relish in the words that she spoke, only biting fact. "You lose."

Then Caitlyn turned heel and walked away, leaving the crew to begin processing their criminal and transporting her off to jail where—as far as Vi was concerned—she would hopefully rot for life.

As for Vi, she had finally managed to stand on her own two feet by the time Caitlyn got over to her. Her hextech gloves, however, remained by her feet, wrecked shadows of the beautiful weapons they had been when she left the office only this morning. She would pretty much have to rebuild them from scratch, unfortunately.

Which was going to be a massive pain in her ass.

The large hat that entered her field of vision reminded her that there were other concerns for the moment, though.

Seeing where Vi's gaze had been, Caitlyn waved one hand dismissively. "The patrol will collect those and return them to lab at police headquarters for you."

Vi nodded, suddenly too tired for words, and uncertain of what to say. Uncertain of just what mood her partner was still in.

"We'll need to get you to the hospital now, determine how badly or not..."

Vi protested automatically. "Nah, no need for that, I'm fine Cai—

"Don't be an idiot," snapped Caitlyn, but her voice held none of the wrath from earlier, and Vi heard clearly the deep seated worry behind the well-spoken and commanding mask that her sheriff wore, and she felt an unexpected wave of guilt envelope her; she was the cause of Caitlyn's worry right now. So she swallowed her pride, because in this instance, Caitlyn deserved better by her.

"Sorry, Cupcake," Vi apologized, grinning sheepishly. "I'll follow your lead then."

What she was not expecting was for Cait to look positively flummoxed back. Her bright eyes widened in confusion, then narrowed suspiciously, and a moment later, Caitlyn had expertly moved the back of her hand to press against Vi's forehead. She was murmuring under her breath, and her gaze was sharp.

"You never just 'follow my lead when it comes to treating your injuries," she muttered, clearly feeling for a fever, and then for any prominent bumps on Vi's head. "You're always a stubborn, pig-headed mule when it comes to your health, which I why I always end up having to house call the doctor to make sure…"

Vi shivered appreciably at the feeling of Cait's fingers against her scalp, but then finally reached up to pull the sheriff's searching fingers back, meeting her gaze seriously, though she couldn't help the smirk that still tugged at her lips—Caitlyn did have her number down when it came to injuries, but then, Vi wasn't surprised. That was her Cupcake.

"Cait...Cait, no I don't have a concussion, okay?" She pulled down Caitlyn's hand with her good arm—the one that wasn't connected to the broken ribs—and cradled it gently, rubbing her thumb in soothing circles over the pale skin. "I'm fine."

When that earned her raised eyebrows, she quickly rectified. "Well, you know. Mostly fine. Kind of. Uh...my head's all good?" For fear that Caitlyn's eyebrows might now disappear into her hairline, Vi pushed on, squeezing the hand that she held in soft reassurance.

"I'm all here, Cupcake."

Then she leaned in to place a quick kiss on the side of Caitlyn's cheek…and her ribs only protested a little. "Now tell me what you need me to do."

Something in Caitlyn finally seemed to relax, and she smiled back gently, accepting the unspoken apology Vi had offered.

She removed her hand from Vi's, cupped one bruised and dusty cheek with the same hand, and then Vi was surprised when Cait leaned back in to press a chaste kiss to her lips.

The surprise didn't keep her from smiling like a love-struck teenager afterward. It wasn't like Cait to show public displays of affection, so Vi would take the rare gesture happily.

"Let's get you home," said Caitlyn, already shifting so that Vi could better lean her weight against the sheriff.

As they walked slowly toward the waiting police transport for them, Vi mostly limping, she couldn't help but smile, broken bones and all. She also couldn't help but stick her tongue out at the teal-haired maniac getting loaded into the flashing hextech transport.

Vi always gets the last word! Ha ha!

Jinx was firmly in chains and being loaded up for jail, and Vi was on her way home, with her lovely lady firmly in arm...or with her firmly in her lovely lady's arm? It was all semantics anyway.

And home sounded wonderful.

Of course, her mind tucked away an important mental note as she caught one last glimpse of Jinx's still disbelieving and rather shell-shocked face:

Remember to never make Caitlyn angry.

That one was definitely going to be filed away from future reference.


End file.
